


This One's a Keeper

by somefantasytosurvivereality



Series: tumblr ficlets [2]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Al is weirdly young, Babysitter AU, Ficlet, Just like maybe ignore time itself and youll be fine, M/M, canonish, child!Al, pre slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-15
Updated: 2016-10-15
Packaged: 2018-08-22 12:00:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8285110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somefantasytosurvivereality/pseuds/somefantasytosurvivereality
Summary: Roy still wasn’t quite sure how he was talked into this. It was probably Maes’ fault, it usually was, but somehow Roy was on a stranger’s doorstep and apparently he had to babysit their kid for the night.In which Ed is a working guy trying to raise his little brother, Roy falls into Hughes’ traps, and Al is too smart and too adorable for his own good.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Strange au in which Ed and Al have a much bigger age difference and Ed was never recruited into the military. Enjoy!

Roy still wasn’t quite sure how he was talked into this. It was probably Maes’ fault, it usually was, but somehow Roy was on a stranger’s doorstep and apparently he had to babysit their kid for the night. Despite Roy telling Maes multiple times that he had no qualifications for this, it had yet to come up in his military training, Maes had insisted he was the perfect man for the job.

Not one to back down from a challenge, Roy ran a hand through his hair, plastered on his best ‘I am clearly very happy to see you smile,’ and wrapped sharply on the door. There was a shout from inside the house, and a boy with the biggest golden eyes and matching hair opened the door to stare up at Roy. 

He was small, but Roy honestly hadn’t been exposed to enough children to know how old. Eight? Ten? Well, however old he was, he looked much too serious as he opened the door. 

“Are you Mister Mustang?” The boy asked, and Roy was saved from answering by someone else’s hand pulling the boy from the door and turning their back to Roy to scold the child.

“What the fuck, Al?” The man was saying, and his gorgeous golden ponytail was swinging with agitation. “I told you not to answer the door for strangers.”

The boy ignored him and raised an eyebrow in a way that Roy had no idea that a small child could pull off. “You’re tying that wrong.”

The man was indeed struggling with the tie around his neck, and from the ‘shit’ that was uttered when he looked down, the little boy must have been right. The man pulled the tie off completely and was starting again when he turned to face Roy, and if the man’s hair was gorgeous, Roy didn’t even have words to describe the man’s eyes, somehow even richer than the child’s.

The scowl he wore as he addressed Roy didn’t mare his face one bit. “So, you’re Hughes’ friend then?”

Roy tried to compose himself by wiping some nonexistent dust off of his jacket before holding his right hand out to the blonde “Yes, Roy Mustang.”

The man somehow managed to untangle his right hand from the tie that he was losing the battle with to shake back. Roy felt the familiar firmness of automail under the white glove and tried to not let his surprise show. Rarely people so young had the cold grip of automail.

“Ed Elric,” Ed said as he shook, then took his hand away to shove a thumb over his shoulder to the boy who was now sitting on the floor playing with a cat. “That’s Al. Think you can handle him?”

“I think we’ll be just-” Roy started, but was interrupted by Ed’s scowl before he could finish. 

“I wasn’t talking to you, asshole.” Roy tried not to let the language startle him as he blinked a few times. “Al, you cool with this guy?”

The boy’s searching gaze felt more like a test than Roy was comfortable with, especially considering how much taller Roy was considering Al was on the floor. 

“Do you like cats?” Al asked very seriously.

Roy nodded quickly and looked at Ed to see he was still struggling with his tie. “Yes, I like them quite a bit.”

Al pondered this for a moment. “Do you know any alchemy?”

Roy almost laughed. Yes, he, the notorious Flame Alchemist, knew quite a bit about alchemy. Strange question from a child so young, perhaps he wanted to studied it. “Ah, yes, I’ve dabbled.”

The boy nodded sagely, then looked over as Ed swore yet again. 

“Fuck it,” Ed said as he tore the tie from around his neck to throw it on the floor, where the cat on Al immediately pounced on it. “Who needs a stupid tie anyway?”

“Mrs. Curtis is going to be angry,” Al observed as he stood up. 

Ed shot a look at his watch. “Well, she’s gonna be pissed already ‘cause I’m late.” He looked over to Roy. “Can you feed him? Or is he going to wake up with food poisoning?”

“I’ve been told I’m quite competent in the kitchen,” Roy answered smoothly. Madam Christmas had been quite insistent that a good cooking ability was a necessity, so Roy had always been encouraged to pursue that art and was rather accomplished if he could say so himself. 

Ed’s eyes narrowed and Roy wished he could stare into them forever, but Ed looked away to crouch down in front of Al. Roy tried very very hard not to stare at the man’s ass. He settled on the broad expanse of his back and called it a compromise. Honestly, he looked much too young to have a son that old. Ed didn’t look a day over twenty five and Al had to be older than eight. Well, some people did have children pretty young. 

“Don’t do anything dumb okay,” Ed said as he wrapped Al in a hug and the boy nodded into Ed’s shoulder. “And, I know Hughes trusts this guy, so he better be alright.”

Ed ended this statement by shooting Roy a rather venomous look.

“We’ll be fine,” Al assured him, and then he shoved Ed away. “Now go before you get any later. I love you.”

“I love you too, Al,” Ed answered and kissed Al on the forehead before he stood up and left in a whirlwind of beautiful golden hair and angry threats hissed to Mustang. He was finally shoved out the door by Al reminding him that this Mrs. Curtis was waiting. 

When the door closed, Roy was left with just himself staring at the little boy awkwardly while the cat still played with Ed’s forgotten tie. Roy sighed and shrugged out of his coat. 

“You can just put it on the rack there,” Al said as he pointed to a coat rack already overflowing with garments. Roy thanked him and attempted to place his coat on the precarious stack without it all falling to the ground.

When he turned back to face the room, Al was trying to get Ed’s tie back from the cat. Roy took a moment to look around the living room he was in. It was impressive, not for the size because it was pretty average for the apartments in central, but for the sheer number of books in the space. Book shelves were overflowing, and the end tables were each crammed with more than a few volumes themselves. Papers and journals with hastily scribbled notes were also scattered around, and Roy was curious about some of the foreign looking circles scattered through those.

“How does your father find anything in this?” Roy asked, too stunned to try for politeness. But, Al laughed softly as he still attempted to get back to tie with minimum damage.

“There’s a system too it,” Al answered politely. “But, Ed’s my big brother, not my dad.”

“I’m sorry,” Roy said quickly, a flush on his cheeks at the assumption. 

“It’s okay. That’s what everyone normally thinks,” Al assured as he finally got the tie free from the cat. Then he changed the subject abruptly. “Do you know how to tie a tie?”

“Yes, of course,” Roy answered, coming farther into the room.

“That’s good. It seems like a good thing to know,” Al hummed, then changed the subject abruptly again. “You said you dabbled in alchemy. What does that mean?”

Roy felt very strangely like he was being interrogated. “I picked up a few things here and there.” Roy tried not to pat his pant’s pocket where his gloves currently were. It was hard to leave them far away.

“That’s interesting,” Al answered as he sat on the couch, moving a few books to the floor to make room for them both. Roy sat down next to him to be polite, and he was startled when the cat immediately jumped into his lap and started purring. “That’s just Ginger, she’s the nice one.”

“Oh, how many cats do you have?” Roy asked as he ran a hand down Ginger’s spine and she purred even louder. 

“Two. Just Ginger and Carbon. But Carbon only really likes Brother and I.”

“Carbon?” Roy questioned with a laugh, but Al gave him the most deadpan look Roy had seen and could probably put his subordinate, Hawkeye, to shame.

“Brother isn’t allowed to name things anymore.”

“It is an interesting choice,” Roy acknowledged.

“He said it was such a big part of him that it fit, and now we can’t change it,” Al explained with a shrug. “Brother is an alchemist.”

Roy startled. Alchemy was a pretty complicated art to learn, especially for one so young. “He seems a bit young for that.”

“Brother is a very good alchemist,” Al said a bit louder, ignoring Roy’s statement. “He’s a professor at Central University. He’s going to the fancy dinner tonight to celebrate his reappointment.”

“He must be very good then,” Roy agreed, still petting the cat.

“Yes, he is,” Al nodded, and he seemed content with that answer.

A bit out of his depth, Roy struggled to find a topic change. “Why don’t I make you some dinner, since your brother said you haven’t eaten?”

Al smiled brightly and dropped the line of questions as he led the way to the kitchen. 

“So, you like to cook?” Al asked curiously as he led the way through the mess of a living room into the small kitchen. 

“Yes, I find it can be quite relaxing. Why do you ask?”

“Well, Brother likes to eat,” he answered matter of factly, and Roy didn’t precisely know what they boy was trying to say, but he had a feeling that, once again, it must be all Maes’ fault.


End file.
